UI: base-to-hit for shoot and melee are not intutitive

[takkaria]

These are currently shown in cyan. They used to be shown in graded colors. It's only because a long time ago I did angband development that I know that 25.6 is a lousy to-hit. Also, the to-hit displayed is not affected by bless/hero/shero.
[this is a bug.]

I want to change the display so it's something like 'guaranteed to hit armour class X'. Except in fewer characters (hopefully!). When AC is exposed in monster memory, this will then be a lot more useful.

Sorry to everyone who likes mystery in the game. I'm ripping it out, exposed number by exposed number.

[Derakon]

While I agree that the "discover what this monster is capable of" thing is interesting gameplay, at the same time it's very problematic as a source of unavoidable deaths. The first time you find a Drolem, you're unlikely to have either poison resistance or 800 HP. How are you supposed to know that carrion crawlers (and homunculi!) can paralyze you with their melee attacks? Much of Angband is about being prepared for fights and about avoiding fights you can't be prepared for, but it's difficult to do that when every monster is an unknown. I worry that our current system promotes painfully cautious play and/or the assumption that you have to die many times to win, just so you can learn what kills you.

To be clear, I'd be perfectly happy to have Angband's monster memory system (albeit probably with some tweaks about the discoverability of AC, HP, melee damage, etc.) in a game where there weren't many, many monsters capable of one-shotting the player.

[Raajaton]

I worry that our current system promotes painfully cautious play and/or the assumption that you have to die many times to win, just so you can learn what kills you.

I have pretty much always felt that way, but I never took that as a negative aspect of the game. That constant fear of the unknown was part of what made getting a little deeper each time so exciting. Sure, it accounted for many what would otherwise have been avoidable deaths, but the next time I encountered I knew what to expect. A death is far easier to remember than something you read in the monster description last play through.

I guess the drawback is that not everyone will be as persistent as the rest and may give up after getting 1 shotted a few too many times. These games can be brutal at times, but I suppose the rogue-like genre isn't for everyone.

[fph]

There's nothing wrong with this "learning by dying" system in itself. IMHO, the real problem is that it is coupled with a game in which it's slow and boring to get back to the point where you just died. Drolem breathes, you die? Oops, try again, but before that you have to replay 30 levels full green worms, [5,+0] small shields, and potions of confusion. That's why people get bored and don't start another game IMHO.

Diving helps overcoming this feeling, but it's a counterintuitive solution; instinctively, people will tend to play slower to avoid dying the next time. They'll take things slow, clear levels and grow fond of their character, of her hardly-earned small shield of resistance and her artifact dagger. And they'll be disappointed once again when she dies, because she will, no matter how slow and careful you are. Then they'll close Angband forever and move a game with the same Tolkien-like feeling, but fancier graphics and 20 save slots.